By: Laine Seaton
Executive Director
Environmental Fund for Arizona

Minnesota is kicking our butt. No, I’m not talking ice hockey or the fact that they have 10,000 lakes – yes, it’s not just their state motto. Rather, I’m talking about their killer support for their environment – hey, they have 10,000 lakes to keep pristine remember? But seriously, Minnesota is leaving us in the dust when it comes to supporting the environment through workplace giving. What’s that you ask? Workplace giving is just that – where employees in companies, cities, counties, universities, or really any organization can give to charities through their workplace, usually via payroll deduction.

For decades, the United Way has been the biggest player on the block. But more recently, other groups, called federations, have joined in looking for an equal piece of the workplace giving pie, representing other nonprofit sectors including the environment. EarthShare (link to www.earthshare.org) is the granddaddy of environmental federations and has 19 state affiliates across the country. There are however a few of us ‘rogue’ independent greenies, like our own Environmental Fund for Arizona (EFAZ) (link to www.efaz.org), but the Minnesota Environmental Fund (link to www.mnenvirofund.org) is one that we Arizonans would be wise to emulate.

In a little over 15 years, MEF has established itself in 140 campaigns across the state, including private companies as well as cities and counties, and now brings in on average $900,000 in donations annually for its 25 environmental group members. No matter how you slice it, that’s a nice chunk of change for MEF members to help continue their missions.

Now contrast this to how Arizona is matching up…or not. Just 17 workplaces across the entire state currently include a ‘green’ choice in their workplace campaigns. For those of us who connect the environment, smart growth, and sustainability to the health and vitality of Arizona’s future, not to mention who believe in the ‘spirit of philanthropy,’ you’d think offering an environmental choice to workplaces would be easier. It’s not. Unfortunately, sometimes long-standing tradition trumps common sense and cool ideas.

Why is ‘giving green’ at work so darn great and why should Arizona take notice? I’ll tell you. Not only does it introduce hundreds, if not thousands of folks to smaller environmental nonprofits who might not have access to companies themselves, but do amazingly cool work for our environment, but it allows Arizona employees to learn about the significant variety of environmental issues being tackled across the state, and helps them to get involved. Think Sonoran Institute and their work with Superstition Vistas. Think Audubon Arizona and their recent opening of the Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center, the gateway to a lush Sonoran riparian habitat used by over 200 species of birds and other wildlife. And don’t forget Grand Canyon Trust. They’re our champions of Arizona’s – and the nation’s – spectacular treasure, the Grand Canyon and the Colorado Plateau. These are just 3 of 29 organizations that make up EFAZ (link to www.efaz.org). Here’s another reason – one that is ridiculously obvious. Arizona is pushing ‘green’ in a big way, no not just to save the planet but for more practical reasons, like recharging our state’s economy with green jobs. Solar energy…hello? Water issues…we’re all over it. Why wouldn’t companies, cities, counties, and universities welcome a green choice into their campaigns?

So, what’s the moral of the story? Let’s not let Minnesota keep kicking our environmental butt. Isn’t the Grand Canyon and the Sonoran Desert worth saving? I say ‘wake up Arizona and smell the organically-grown, fair trade coffee.’

By: Marjorie Rice
Vice President,
Wells Fargo Regional Banking Communications

Little changes sure can add up to big results. The simplest ideas – using compact fluorescent bulbs, turning the thermostat a couple of degrees cooler in winter, telecommuting one day a week, using cloth bags instead of paper or plastic for groceries – can result in tremendous reductions in greenhouse gases when multiplied by tens of millions of households over a year.

In my industry – financial services – we’re focused on saving resources in our own operations and finding ways to work with our customers to help protect our environment.

For example, we encourage our customers to consider online-only statements. This option works for nearly all customers, it’s easy and in aggregate it can make a meaningful environmental impact.  In fact, this spring Wells Fargo announced that our customers helped save more than 60,000 trees in the previous three years by receiving online banking statements instead of paper, according to estimates made using the Environmental Defense paper calculator.

We also promote online banking and bill payment. This service makes it easy for  individuals and businesses to pay bills, view and archive multiple statements, all while reducing paper usage, saving energy and diverting waste from landfills.  At Wells Fargo, nearly 70 percent of all consumer checking accounts are managed online – and online banking is increasing popular with customers throughout our industry. Pay It Green, an industry alliance organized to promote online banking, estimates that an average household with online services could save seven pounds of paper, 60 gallons of waste water and five gallons of gas each year.

Other ways individuals can benefit the environment through financial products and services include:

• Paper-free services such as direct deposit, e-mail alerts and automatic account and customer-to-customer money transfers.
• Envelope-free ATMs. At Wells Fargo, we estimate that our customers have helped us save more than 4,000 trees by choosing to make deposits at envelope-free ATMs (http://www.edf.org/papercalculator/). We’re adding more of these to our ATM network each year.  (And remember to select “no receipt” whenever possible.)
• Investing in companies with positive environmental track records – your financial adviser should be able to provide you with green investment choices that make sense for the overall asset allocation of your portfolio.
• Redeeming credit/debit reward points for renewable energy certificates or to benefit nonprofit organizations that promote environmental issues. 

Financial companies have a responsibility to do more than educate our customers and provide them green alternatives. Being responsible environmental stewards means we must incorporate environmental responsibility into our daily business practices, operations and culture.  In our downtown Wells Fargo headquarters building, for instance, this has meant installing motion-activated lights and recycling bins, support for telecommuting options and an upgrade in recent years to a more energy-efficient air conditioning system for the 25-story tower.

We all can do so much more. According to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), buildings are responsible for 39 percent of CO2 emissions in the United States. For more than 40 years, Valley Forward has been a leader in supporting design and providing resources to help companies develop more energy-efficient places of business – and we’ll continue to promote a healthy environment as an integral part of positive community development and long-term business success.

Imagine the tremendous impact we can have if every one of us made one simple change, starting now, to help protect our environment. It’s a great time of year to make that happen.

By: Colin Tetreault
Master of Arts Student
Arizona State University
School of Sustainability

Last Sunday you may have partaken in one of the following: 1) purchased exorbitantly priced long-stem roses; 2) decided to install new kitchen cabinets after yours were engulfed in flames due to your culinary expertise; 3) applied calamine lotion after your weather-perfect picnic played host to the local mound of ants. Awash with so many romantic activities, you may not have noticed that Arizona shared a birthday with Valentine’s Day. Happy 98^th, Arizona. You look pretty good for your age.

With our 100^th birthday nigh, it may be difficult to conceive that we were (in some areas a convincing argument can be made for ‘are’) still the “wild west” in the not too distant past. What may be even more unfathomable is the level of change that Arizona has seen in the past 98 years. Moving from a simple territory to the home of the nation’s 5^th largest city; from an 1885 territorial normal school to the largest national public university; from a simple cotton and citrus operation to a hub for technological development, Phoenix has seen its share of change.

Such substantive change has left us in a position, that many in the state feel (and I agree), is unsustainable given current trends. While it is important to understand what has transpired in our past, it is equally important to understand what is happening now and how to shape our shared future. Currently, there is a cornucopia of sustainability-related activities underway in the Phoenix area that may surprise you.

• The Phoenix Biomedical High School is fostering innovative student driven solutions to local energy concerns;
• Local organizations, like Valley Forward, are furthering considerate discussion around complex livability issues;
• Tempe Community Council’s enabling approach to developing and advancing society;
• The City of Peoria’s Beardsley Water Reclamation Solar Project.

As we survey our 98^th year, the ideals of sustainability are becoming better understood, societal norms are beginning to shift, and the overarching milieu is becoming more robust. While we may applaud our efforts thus far, we need to make a concerted effort to ensure that Arizona’s 200^th birthday is one that leverages the transformative change we have previously embodied into a flexible platform for future success. Some necessary components of that platform include (not limited to):

• Community, education, and industry partnerships that allow human, economic, and social capital to seamlessly flow between each other. Valley Forward is working to champion this cause by expanding its role and responsibilities in the coming years.
• A progressive urban fabric with urban planning that does not have a bias towards any particular individual or entity; rather, it exemplifies a stakeholder model of engagement and New Urbanism tendencies. The City of Phoenix and ASU are embarking on a ground-breaking project that will work to update the next General Plan with community participation and academic rigor;
• Political servants who understand that economic development, environmental health, and social robustness are not dissonant and mutually exclusive, but synergistic and interconnected.
• Feedback mechanisms that will allow a more transparent and interactive style of governance between constituents and decision makers.

The future of Arizona will not be molded by touting particular political stances. It will be shaped by individuals, groups, organizations, and businesses that realize we are not alone in the consequences of our present decisions and collaborate to act in a more sustainable manner today.

Arizona’s 200^th birthday present need not be a paradigmatic shift towards a life of indignation or misery for its inhabitants to become more sustainable. Instead, the greatest gift for the future is a genesis of people who realize that smarter choices, today, are the truly sustainable path.

Colin Tetreault will be graduating with his Master of Art’s from ASU’s School of Sustainability this May; the program is the first of its kind in the world. Colin’s work ethic centers on advancing businesses, organizations, and governments dedicated to responsible growth with principles. If you would like to discuss this post or other topics, he welcomes the opportunity to chat. You may reach him at Colin.Tetreault@asu.edu, or follow him on Twitter @ColinTetreault.

By: The Hon. Hugh Hallman,        
Mayor,
City of Tempe

In the north Tempe, hidden behind Tempe Town Lake and to the east of Papago Park’s most popular vistas, there is a beautiful swath of land and history often overlooked. It is the Carl Hayden Campus for Sustainability, on College Avenue between McKellips and Curry Roads. www.tempe.gov/business/chcs

Blending natural landscapes with built elements, the campus demonstrates how sustainability can work for everyone.

The Carl Hayden Campus for Sustainability borders the original Papago-Saguaro National Monument and Tempe Town Lake. It includes the Arizona Historical Society Museum, the O’Connor House, the Tempe Women’s Club Xeriscape Demonstration Garden, the LoPiano Mesquite Bosque, Loma del Rio Hohokam Ruin, Evelyn Hallman Park, and the historic Eisendrath House and Center for Water Conservation. 

Running throughout the campus is the Green Line Riparian Area. Nourished by waters from the Salt and Verde rivers and the Johnny G. Martinez Water Treatment Plant, this is a living ecosystem that is waiting for nature trails, picnic grottos and interpretive exhibits. The Tempe Women’s Club Xeriscape Garden is along the Green Line and is a shining example of how this land could be enhanced.

The LoPiano Mesquite Bosque, just north of Tempe Town Lake, is also fed by the waters of the Green Line. The habitat supports rabbits, coyotes and a wide variety of birds. The earthen canal dug through this land is one of the oldest in existence; the long-gone Hohokam created this canal to care for the trees that gave them shade, medicine and materials for basket weaving. Loma del Rio, a Hohokam ruin, provided shelter for the Native Americans. Visitors may now explore wheelchair accessible Loma del Rio at no cost.

Evelyn Hallman Park is another example of how, with water, the desert thrives. The 40-acre oasis is one of the Valley’s best urban fishing holes. Great blue heron, turtles, and even desert bighorn sheep may be seen in the area.

The architecture that weaves through this amazing landscape is no less than stellar. The City of Tempe and Rio Salado Foundation, along with many local businesses and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, have come together to support the restoration of these historic homes and facilities.

The Arizona Historical Society Museum is set back several acres to preserve and protect the natural terrain. The adobe brick O’Connor House, which Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor built with her husband in Paradise Valley, was moved next to the museum; it now is being used as a public gathering space and a tribute to Justice O’Connor and her family.

Another restoration project along the Green Line is the Eisendrath Center for Water, a pueblo-style home built by local architect and master builder Robert Evans in 1929. It is hoped that the facility will one day house a tribute to Carl Hayden, a Rose Eisendrath Interpretive Center, a City of Tempe Water Conservation facility and program space.

More about these projects, including video, is available at www.tempe.gov/business/chcs

By: Cynthia Seelhammer
Action Director,
City of Phoenix Water Services Department

I know. I know. Hearing about wise water use can get old. Partially because tap water is so reliable; we often don’t think about it. It’s just there, everyday. We have that reliable water supply, with no restrictions at this time, because Valley cities and our partners have been doing a great job of long-term planning, as well as balancing water demand, growth and our dry climate for many, many decades. But our water supply can change quickly if snows up north decrease for a few years in a row. That’s why smart water use is so important. That’s where each one of us comes into play. You see, if that snow up north is our income, think of water conservation as our savings account. Life is a lot better when you have something in savings, right? That’s why a water efficient lifestyle can help – a lot. In fact, our per person usage of water has decreased about 20 percent in the last 20 years. But, there’s more to be done, and we can’t gamble with the future of our water supply for our children’s children.

So, exactly how can each of us help? Take it personal. Just think about water. First, think about what life would be like without a reliable, clean supply of tap water. Think about how tap water provides life, extinguishes fires and makes sporting events possible. Then, think about how you can do your part.  Think about the programming of your outdoor irrigation system when the seasons change. Think about planting native desert plants that need little water. Don’t do things because just you’ve done them in the past. Think about how you use your clothes washer, the length of your showers and if you really need that grass. And, remember, although the cost of tap water is a bargain compared to other services you pay for every month, saving water can save your pocketbook quite a bit over the long run.

Valley cities are doing their part, too. Many of them have had long-term, innovative water conservation awareness programs. In Phoenix, we were even lucky enough to have Leslie Nielsen star in award-winning public service announcements that can be viewed on YouTube. And, we use the latest technologies to manage one of the most aggressive leak repair systems in the country, throughout our 7,000 miles of water lines.

To learn more about how to save water indoors and, especially, outdoors, check your city’s website. In Phoenix, visit www.phoenix.gov/wrc , or call 602-261-8367. You also can visit www.ag.arizona.edu/azmet/phx for a lawn watering guide or www.wateruseitwisely.com or www.h2ouse.net to learn more about water conservation measures. Remember, take it personal. All you really have to do is think about water…every time you use it…and use it responsibly.